Read:  Psalm 104

Reflect:  When you hear the word “Thanksgiving”, what images come to mind?  Is it a table loaded up with turkey, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, and all the other fixings?  Do you picture a multi-generational family gathering?  A day of watching football or parades?  Or do you imagine a state of gratitude that shapes and guides your daily life?  Although the 1954 musical White Christmas is set in the days or weeks leading up to Christmas, Irving Berlin’s song “Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep)” seems appropriate for our Thanksgiving Day celebrations and for cultivating a daily spiritual practice of gratitude.  The words, in part, are these:  “When I’m worried, and I can’t sleep/ I count my blessings instead of sheep/ and I fall asleep counting my blessings…”  The author of Psalm 104 seems to share this sentiment.  The psalm is both an extensive recounting of the wonders of God’s creation, and a prayer of thanksgiving for God’s abundant provision and care. One can almost imagine the psalmist at the end of the day, counting God’s myriad blessings, and then falling gently to sleep with words of blessing and praise still on their lips!

Prayer:  Generous God, you lavishly bless your world and all its people.  In good times, and in challenging ones, you are faithfully at work bringing good from evil, light from darkness, and new life from that which is broken or dying.  Help me to set aside my doubts and fears.  Empower me to trust in the abundance of your goodness and mercy.  Make me truly grateful for each and every blessing that you offer.  Let me begin and end each day declaring, “Bless the Lord, O my soul!”  In the name of Jesus, your greatest blessing, I pray.  Amen.